The points were shared at the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday afternoon, as Freiburg were held to a 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen.

After a strong start, Freiburg took the lead courtesy of a flick from Philipp Lienhart. They would not be ahead for long, though, as Bremen equalized following a converted penalty by Niclas Fullkrug.

It was a fair result as neither side really took control, so they’ll both be relatively happy with a point.

Story of the match

Freiburg started the contest on the front foot and would make the most of their early advantage, opening the scoring after 15 minutes. A loose ball following a corner flew towards Philipp Lienhart, who reacted quickly to redirect the ball into the back of the net with a clever flick on.

They nearly made it two moments later. A chipped pass in behind put Jonathan Schmid through on the wing, and he made no mistake with the finish, picking out the bottom corner with a sublime volley. However, the goal would not stand, as a VAR review spotted an offside player in the build up.

The swing in momentum would continue, as Bremen were awarded a penalty soon after. Leonardo Bittencourt was brought down in the box by Nicolas Hofler, and the referee had no other choice than to point to the spot. Niclas Fullkrug then stepped up and slotted home the resulting spot kick.

Bremen ended the first half the better of the two sides, and came close to taking the lead themselves, but a shot from Nick Woltemade was hit right at the goalkeeper.

Kevin Mohwald, who came on at halftime, nearly scored one of the goals of the season. The ball popped out to him from distance, and he decided to have a go, slamming a volley that had to be tipped over the crossbar.

Freiburg really should have made it 2-1 in the 72nd minute. Schmid was involved once again, and found himself in plenty of space following a well-worked give-and-go. However, his effort was blocked by an onrushing Jiri Pavlenka, who stepped up to make the save.

The home side dominated down the final stretch, but just couldn’t create one final chance before fulltime. Bremen were solid defensively, and somehow managed to clear every cross whipped into the area.

As a result, the game finished 1-1, which was a fair scoreline at the end of the day.

Takeaways

Honors even
Neither side deserved to win, and neither deserved to lose either, so a draw was the right result.

Freiburg controlled possession, and looked like they were going to run away with the contest early on. However, instead of going up 2-0, they found themselves tied at 1-1. They had plenty of the ball, but they didn’t do much with it late on. 

Freiburg settled for lumping the ball into the area time and time again, which just didn’t work. The crosses weren’t good enough, and no one was able to win a header. Still, it was a promising performance from the home side, who have gotten some confidence back following their horrific loss to Borussia Dortmund last time out.

Bremen, on the other hand, looked very solid defensively, which is not something that can be said often. Calm and composed at the back, they were able to keep clearing the ball away.

The Green-Whites didn’t completely park the bus, as they had a few opportunities of their own, especially at the end of the first half. They just didn’t have enough in the final third, unable to pick out that killer pass that would’ve opened things up.

They were able to continue their unbeaten run with the result, though, which is good news for a Bremen side that just might finally be putting it all together.

Man of the match - Jonathan Schmid

No one really stood out this afternoon, so the man of the match award could have gone to anyone out on the field.

Jonathan Schmid may have been the best of an average bunch, as the Freiburg fullback was constantly involved going forward. He even had the ball in the back of the Bremen net at one point, but his goal was correctly taken off the board due to a teammate being offside.

Nonetheless, Schmid got up and down the right side of the field, helping his team on both sides of the ball. It was a decent showing from the Frenchman, who will now look to build upon this performance.

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